Nigeria’s reputable banker and the Chairman Heirs Holding, Tony Elumelu, has challenged the Federal Government and security agencies to reveal the identity of those stealing the nation’s crude oil.
While responding to an interview published by the Financial Times on Friday, August 9, 2024, the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) emphasized that the theft of Nigeria’s assets, especially crude oil, is part of the reason international oil companies in Nigeria are divesting
He recalled a first-hand discovery on why international oil companies were partly divesting from onshore assets after criminal gangs began stealing crude from his pipelines.
Sometime in 2022, at the height of oil theft activities that forced his company to shut down production in Nigeria, Elumelu took to social media to express frustrations over the development and the scale at which the country was losing its wealth to criminals.
“How can we be losing over 95 per cent of oil production to thieves? Look at the Bonny Terminal which should be receiving over 200,000 barrels of crude oil daily, instead, it receives less than 3,000 barrels, leading the operator Shell to declare force majeure. The reason Nigeria is unable to meet its OPEC production quota is not because of low investment but because of theft, pure and simple!
“Meanwhile, oil-producing countries are smiling as their foreign reserve is rising. What is Nigeria’s problem? We need to hold our leaders more accountable!” he posted on X.
Elumelu said he is optimistic the oil sector will overcome its present challenges regardless of the fact that the country currently losing 18% of crude from his field to criminals.
“42,000 barrels of crude pumped out daily. Theft still takes away about 18 per cent of production,” he said.
In the course of the interview he was asked about the people behind the theft, Elumelu said the government and security agencies are best positioned to know, and owe Nigerians the duty to reveal those behind the thefts.
“This is oil theft, we’re not talking about stealing a bottle of Coke you can put in your pocket. The government should know, they should tell us. Look at America — Donald Trump was shot at and quickly they knew the background of who shot him. Our security agencies should tell us who is stealing our oil. You bring vessels to our territorial waters and we don’t,” he stated.
For years Nigeria’s crude oil is been stolen and moved to territorial waters through vessels.
